Stolen Buddhist Artifact Returned to Pakistan

By KEVIN LESSMILLER 

     MANHATTAN (CN) — Prosecutors said a 2nd-century Buddhist sculpture was returned to Pakistan after an art dealer's plan to sell the stolen artifact for $1.1 million was foiled.
     Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said Wednesday that the Kushan Period artifact, which depicts the "footprint of the Buddha," was given back to the country during a repatriation ceremony.
     The Buddhapada sculpture was stolen from an archeological site in Pakistan's Swat Region in the 1980s and was recovered after this year's arrest and prosecution of art dealer Tatsuzo Kaku, according to Vance.
     Prosecutors say Kaku, 70, pleaded guilty last month to second-degree criminal possession of stolen property. 

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